Turkey vows to remove Gulen movement 'by its roots' after failed coup

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[July 19, 2016]  By Ercan Gurses and Ayla Jean Yackley

ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey vowed on Tuesday to root out allies of the U.S.-based cleric it blames for a failed coup attempt last week, after an already deep purge of the army, police and judiciary, and said it had sent Washington evidence of his wrongdoing.

President Tayyip Erdogan and the government accuse Fethullah Gulen of orchestrating an attempted military takeover on Friday in which at least 232 people were killed, and have called in speeches for his extradition from the United States.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim accused Washington, which has said it will only consider an extradition request if clear evidence is provided, of double standards in its fight against terrorism. He said the justice ministry had sent a dossier to U.S. authorities.

Western leaders have expressed solidarity with the government over the coup attempt but also alarm at the sweeping response, urging Turkey to adhere to democratic values.

In a defiant parliament speech, Yildirim said the fact civilians had been targeted in the attempted power grab by a faction in the military made it unprecedented in the history of Turkey, which last saw a violent coup more than 30 years ago.

"I'm sorry but this parallel terrorist organization will no longer be an effective pawn for any country," Yildirim said.

"We will dig them up by their roots so that no clandestine terrorist organization will have the nerve to betray our blessed people again."

Around 1,400 people were wounded as soldiers commandeered tanks, attack helicopters and warplanes in their bid to seize power, strafing parliament and the intelligence headquarters and trying to seize the main airport and bridges in Istanbul.

Authorities have suspended or detained close to 20,000 soldiers, police, judges and civil servants in the days since the coup bid.

"SERIOUS ALARM"

The broad crackdown and calls to reinstate the death penalty for plotters have drawn appeals from Western allies for Ankara to uphold the rule of law in the country, a NATO member bordering the chaos of Syria whose cooperation in the fight against Islamic State is crucial to Washington.

Some have expressed concern that Erdogan - who said he was almost killed or captured by the mutineers - was using the opportunity to consolidate power and further a process of stifling dissent.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, voiced "serious alarm" on Tuesday at the mass suspension of judges and prosecutors.

"In the aftermath of such a traumatic experience, it is particularly crucial to ensure that human rights are not squandered in the name of security and in the rush to punish those perceived to be responsible," Zeid said.

The foreign ministry has said criticism of the government's response amounts to backing the coup.

Yildirim said Turkey would respect the rule of law and not be driven by revenge in prosecuting suspected coup plotters. Speaking alongside the leader of the main secularist opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), he said the country must avoid the risk that some people try to exploit the current situation.

"We need unity ... and brotherhood now," he said.

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), a right-wing grouping and the smallest of the three opposition parties represented in parliament, said it would back the government if it decides to restore the death penalty.


"If the (ruling) AK Party is ready on the issue of the death penalty, so are we," MHP leader Devlet Bahceli told his lawmakers.

Turkey scrapped the death penalty in 2004 as part of its push to join the European Union, and European leaders have warned Ankara against restoring it.
 

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Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildrim (C) visits damaged parts of the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Turkey July 19, 2016. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

"100 PERCENT SECURITY"

More than 6,000 soldiers and around 1,500 others have been detained since the abortive coup. Some 8,000 police officers, including in the capital Ankara and the biggest city Istanbul, have been removed on suspicion of links to the plot.

Two of the arrested soldiers were pilots who shot down a Russian fighter plane near the border with Syria last November, an incident which sparked a diplomatic row with Moscow, a senior Turkish official said.

Some 1,500 finance ministry officials have also been removed from their posts. Annual leave has been suspended for more than 3 million civil servants, while close to 3,000 judges and prosecutors have also been purged. A court remanded 26 generals and admirals in custody on Monday, Turkish media said.

Officials in Ankara say former air force chief Akin Ozturk, who has appeared in detention with his face and arms bruised and one ear bandaged, was a co-leader of the coup. Turkish media said on Monday he had denied this to prosecutors, saying he had tried to prevent the attempted putsch.

Yildirim said Turkey needed to ensure "100 percent security" of the whole country. The government would announce important decisions on Wednesday to rescue the country from what he said were extraordinary circumstances.

The government says it was masterminded by Gulen, a Muslim cleric based in the United States who has a wide following in Turkey. He denies any involvement and has suggested the coup was orchestrated by Erdogan as an excuse for a crackdown.

ERDOGAN: I WOULD HAVE BEEN KILLED

The coup crumbled after Erdogan, on holiday with his family at the coastal resort of Marmaris, phoned in to a television news program and called for his followers to take to the streets. He was able to fly into Istanbul in the early hours of Saturday, after rebel pilots had his plane in their sights but did not shoot it down.

He said on Monday that he might have died if he had left Marmaris any later. "Two of my close bodyguards were martyred, they were killed," he told CNN in an interview. "Had I stayed 10 or 15 additional minutes there, I would have been killed or I would have been taken."

He repeated his call that parliament must consider his supporters' demands to apply the death penalty for the plotters.

"The people have the opinion that these terrorists should be killed," he said. "Why should I keep them and feed them in prisons for years to come, that's what the people say."

The bloodshed shocked the nation of almost 80 million, where the army last used force to stage a successful coup more than 30 years ago, and shattered fragile confidence in the stability of a NATO member state already rocked by Islamic State suicide bombings and an insurgency by Kurdish militants.

Since the coup was put down, Erdogan has said enemies of the state still threatened the country and has urged Turks to take to the streets every evening until Friday to show their support for the government.

Thousands heeded his words and took to squares in Turkey's three biggest cities on Monday, the third day in a row, to show their support.

(Additional reporting by Gareth Jones, Orhan Coskun,; Writing by Nick Tattersall, editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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